Elia sat on the couch as she once again reviewed the contract, waiting for the brothers to regain consciousness.
It took more than an hour for whatever was in their system to get flushed out and to recover.
Samuel was the first to get up, followed by Eros and Asheron.
They felt pain all over their body as they struggled to their feet.
“Rise and shine,” Elia’s monotone voice was the first thing they heard as they woke up.
She had her face buried in the pile of documents, not even bothering to look up from it.
Eros in particular felt irked by it.
He hated how she ignored his presence.
To get her attention, he had to say something, so he did, “I thought you would have run away after seeing us like that.” It was a reproach to himself.
He couldn’t believe he acted like a savage beast without any control.
He was a goddamn Alpha for fuck’s sake!
“That was the plan,” Elia replied, finally putting down the contract and turning to them, “But I had already signed this. I’m very law-abiding, you see.” Anything other than saying the truth that she got scared and was about to run for the hills until Alan stopped her.
“Sure” A small smile danced on his lips as he observed her cute, exaggerated words.
Without even realizing it, he was watching her every action and expression in a daze.
Like she was the only thing to exist before him.
Samuel, on the other hand, straightened his suit; he felt like he had done this multiple times since the arrival of this human woman.
He had gone from always appearing professional to a messy-looking vagabond in a mere day, and all of that because of this puny human.
“It’s good that you decided against running away,” He said, looking directly at her, “I would have hunted you down and brought you back here by any means possible if you had left”
Elia glared at him.
His gaze said that he meant every word he just said.
A wary sigh left her lips.
Where had she ended up?
Discovering werewolves was never on her bingo card of ‘After annulment phase’ that she wanted to enjoy.
She had just broken off her ties with her ex-fiancé and felt like she was finally free, only to end up in another prison.
Werewolf prison, where men talked cheesy things like hunting women down.
She really had the worst luck.
Eros, Samuel, and the one who doesn’t talk much, Asheron.
The trio looked similar, but their personalities varied greatly.
And Elia must coexist with them for the next six months if she didn’t want to die by their enemies.
She didn’t even have her family’s support now that she had broken up with Jake.
That made her glance at hundreds of unread messages and calls from her stepmother.
Elia chose not to pick up any call from her family because she didn’t want to get nagged to death and, worse, forced into forgiving Jake.
She never wanted to see Jake’s face again.
Elia wanted to erase him from her life.
He had cheated on her with the worst person she could think of, and did it so boastfully.
That sleazy son of a bitch had wasted ten years of her life.
No more. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
However, before that, she had to find a job to really get out of her family’s influence.
That realization made her glare at Samuel again.
She was kidnapped on his orders when she was going to an interview.
Elia already had limited options as she had no degree, but this uninformed absence from her side would definitely put her on black list in the job market.
Picking up her handbag, she was about to walk out when a voice stopped her, “Where are you going?”
Elia turned to Samuel, “Out, I have some work.” She didn’t think she should elaborate more than that.
It was her personal business.
“You are not going anywhere.”
She frowned, “What?”
Samuel had a calm look on his face, “You’ll live here from now on. Why must you go out?”
Elia laughed at his audacity, “Mr.Donovan, I can’t just live here without making any arrangements. I have to get my luggage and my things”
He took a moment to respond, “All of that is arranged”
She blinked as he continued, “Your accommodation, clothes, things human women use, everything is ready”
“Oh,” Elia didn’t know what to say.
And before she could think more, he took her to her accommodation.
A brusque colored villa with a modern interior.
It was smaller compared to her home…..that was not her home anymore.
Jake had tricked her into signing over its ownership to her step sister.
It stung when she thought about that witch owning the house that her late mother left to her but Elia took it as her punishment for being so naive and trusting towards Jake.
Coming back, Elia roamed her eyes around the villa.
It was a beautiful place until she heard.
“This is where Ash and you will live for the next six months.”
Smuael’s murmur caught her attention.
The man he mentioned had left, telling his brothers that he had no intention of entertaining a puny human.
Elia hated that all of them called her that.
They were the ones who were acting like savages out of control due to this puny human.
That made them more punnier than her.
“That is your room,” Eros said before Samuel could do so.
He grabbed her wrist and dragged her in a direction.
Scared that he would lose control by touching her, she tried to push him away until he said, “I have taken the potion, my wolf is asleep.”
“Still, I would like it if you didn’t touch me without my permission.” Elia swiftly removed her hand from his hold and walked past him, entering the room.
Meanwhile, Eros looked at the empty space in his hand with a glint in his eyes.
He curled his fingers into a fist.
The way she shook off his touch like he was nothing to her made him breathe roughly.
Then he looked at the human as she looked through her room.
He wanted to rush to her, pounce on her, ask her…… Did she really feel nothing in his presence?
He knew that she was a human, but still.
How could she ignore him like he meant nothing to her while he was dying just to touch her?
To hold her and feel her warm body against his?
To sink his canines into her soft neck….
“Not now, Ros,” Samuel said, gripping his brother’s right shoulder, “We have barely made her sign that contract, don’t do something that ruins all of my efforts” He knew that she was already scared of their outbursts against Liam and Alan; even he lost his composure and almost marked her if not for Alan.
The last thing he wanted now was her getting scared enough that she decides to run away.
Offcourse, he wouldn’t let her leave, but Samuel wanted her to stay here on her own volition.
He didn’t want to force or imprison her.
That was the only goodwill he could provide for the woman who was his mate.
“Don’t you feel anything, Sam?” As always, his emotional brother thought with his heart rather than with his brain.
Eros clenched his jaw as he glanced at him, ”I feel like dying, my mate is here and I can’t claim her, this isn’t fair”
Samuel’s eyes turned sharp, hearing his brother’s words.
A scoff left his lips, “Do you think father will be fair to her if we decide to claim her?
Do you think the council will welcome a human as their luna?
Do you really think…..” Sam took a deep breath trying to calm himself, ”Our enemies will shred her into pieces if they learn about her being our mate.
They will use and abuse her, knowing that she is our weakness.
We have already made a huge blunder announcing her existence.” It was out of their control.
They weren’t ready or in their right senses when they first met her.
“But Ash gets to announce her as his mate” Eros whined, “He will… ”
“He will do nothing,” Sam said, cutting his words, “She will be Ash’s mate only till we take chosen mates” That thought alone repulsed him now, but he had no choice but to do it.
”They will act like mates for six months, and that will be it.
You know why we have to do this, you know why Asheron can’t take a chosen mate.…”
“I know,” Eros shook off Sam’s hand from his shoulder, ”Don’t treat me like I don’t know anything.”
This was the best plan.
Now that the pack knew about Elia’s existence, they needed to manipulate it for their own advantage.
Instead of completely denying it, they agreed on letting her pose as Asheron’s mate until he and Sam secured a chosen bond with other she-wolves.
Then they could announce that they were mistaken about Elia being Ash’s mate and send her out.
It was a solid plan.
But… “Do you think we can stay away from her for six months?” That was the biggest challenge.
Samuel glanced at Elia’s figure walking around the room.
She peeked inside the wardrobe and smiled, seemingly happy with the choice of clothes.
His heart raced inside his chest, looking at that scene, “We must. We have no other choice.”